Social Assistive Robotics

1. GUY KEREN, MARINA FRIDIN
FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT, ARIEL
UNIVERSITY CENTER, ISRAEL
THE THERAPEUTIC AND EDUCATIONAL SOCIAL ROBOTICS LAB
Kindergarten Assistive Robotic
For
Geometrical Thinking And
Metacognitive Development
IROS 2012

2. ROBOTICS & EDUCATION
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We focused on children 4–6 years old: the preschool years are
considered critical for children’s overall development (Chambers & Sugden,
2002) .
We developed
KINDERGARTEN ASSISTIVE ROBOTICS(KAR).
• Robots as a tool for the teaching
• Subjects closely related to the robotics field: mechatronics, electronics,
programming, physics, mathematics; helped to improve problem solving,
logic, and scientific inquiry (Benitti, 2011).
• Participants ages 6 -16.
• Not integrated into classroom activities, took place in an after-school or
summer camp program.
• Platform : mainly Lego
• In the field of child care
• Social Assistive Robotics : children with autism (Kozima, Nakagawa, & Yano, 2004).
• iRobi in elementary school : wheeled robot, educational activities mainly
through embedded computer-based games (Han, Jo, Park, & Kim, 2005)
• AIBO, a robotic pet, in class work for 4 6-year-olds‒ (Yamamoto, Tetsui,
Naganuma, and Kimura, 2006)

3. IROS 2012

4. Geometric
al
Thinking
Geometry is
everywhere:
art, architecture,
engineering, robotics,
astronomy, sculptures …
Main theory: van Hieles geometric
thinking levels
Often ignoring in early education
(Sarama & Clements, 2009).
Existing system (mostly for higher
education):
 Web-based virtual environment (Rafi,
Khairul Anuar, Samad, Hayati, & Mazlan, 2005)
 GeoCAL, a multimedia learning software
(Chang et al., 2007)
Main Problem : learning in 2D
about 3D
Possible Solution: embodiment
system
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5. Classical
Western
Music
Listening to the music
improve
 brain development, mathematical
and overall academic
achievements (Cox & Stephens, 2006).
 children’s spatial abilities (Fukui &
Toyoshima, 2008).
Listening is enough
(Nieminen, Istok, Brattico,
Tervaniemi & Huotilainen, 2011).
Music stimulates arousing
emotions (Zentner & Eerola,
2010).
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6. One person from Educational or Scientific Staff
~1m
SETUP
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7. IROS 2012
PROCEDURE
Introduction
Presentation of seasons in cyclic order, the robot explains,
dances, plays Vivaldi “Four Season”
Finding button for each season, positive
reinforcement feedback: dance
Parting

8. PROCEDURE
Geometricthinking
Level 0 - Recognition: child
recognizes the geometric shapes of
the robot; pays attention to the
visual characteristics of geometric
patterns.
Level 1 - Visual Association:
infers shapes based on their
characteristics.
Robot asks children to look at
the screen and take notice of the
basic shape of its picture shown
there.
Robot asks children to inspect
parts of its body and locate
buttons on it.
Robot asks children to
distinguish between upper and
lower parts of its body (hands,
head) and front and back parts of
its head (noting back and front
buttons on the head).
Visual motor skills: eye- hand
coordination
Robot asks children to push
the relevant buttons.
Level 2 - Description/Analysis:
identifies attributes of geometric
shapes such as spatial relationships
between parts.
van Hieles

9. Thinking
about
thinking
Three components:
 Metacognitive knowledge:
knowledge and awareness of one’s
own cognitive processes and
products (Flavell & Wellman, 1977).
 Metacognitive skills: the ability to
use the metacognitive knowledge
strategically in order to attain
cognitive objectives (Desoete, 2008).
 Metacognitive experiences: the
awareness and feelings that arise
when an individual encounters a
task and processes the information
related to it (Efklides, 2008).
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META
COGNITION

10. METACOGNITION
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•Often ignoring in early education
•The question of whether metacognition is learnable
is still a matter of debate
•Instructions:
o Awareness, control of meta-task rather than
task procedures
o Self-monitoring
o “Thinking aloud” (Kramarski & Mevarech, 2003)
o Develop child’s linguistic component (Zohar,
2004)
o Cooperative learning (Cross & Paris, 1988)
o Visibility (Hennessey, 1999)
o Motivation (Eisenberg, 2010)

11. PROCEDURE PROTOCOL AND
SUBJECTS
IROS 2012
Group Boys Girls Total
1 4 1 5
2 2 2 4
3 4 4 8
Total 10 7 17
G3
n=8
G1
n=5
Timeline (Days)
First
meeting
procedure
81 15 22
G2
n=4
Four Seasons Procedure
Session 1 Session 2
Cognitive Stage
Robot teaches the children
Session 1 Session 2
Metacognitive Stage
A child (G2) teaches children
(G3) using the robot
29

12. IROS 2012

13. • Interaction Level (IL)
o Repeated measures (segments of the procedure) ANOVA, the
three between-subject factors: stage (cognitive/metacognitive),
session (1, 2), and gender (boy, girl).
• Velocity of Learning (V)
o Same as for IL
• Metacognitive measurement (MM)
o Observational checklist: 22 items for measuring metacognition
and self-regulation
DATA ANALYSIS
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∑=
=
3
1
**
F
FSss FWSignECIL
RT
AVE
V
)(1 +−
=

14. RESULTS
• Interaction
Level
• Cognitive
• Meta
Cognitive
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15. CONCLUSIONS
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• Uncovered topics in preschool education: children
improved both geometrical thinking and
metacognition
• Gender: no differences
• Key for successes:
o Embodiment
o Game-like activity
o Collaborative work
o Visual
o Music, dance, free movement
o Motivation, emotional arousing
• A lot of future work….

16. KAR
Ethical Issues and First
Meeting Procedure
Selective Attention and
Motor Training
Story Telling
Gender Differences
Team Decomposition
Acceptance by Educational
Staff
Virtual Robot
Spatial Cognition
……..
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17. IROS 2012
THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION